Started call this meeting to order at 303 p.m.

on Wednesday, March 25th, 2026.

First, let the record reflect that uh council president Dickinson is excused outside of her all um ECDC uh commissioners are present.

I'll first move to the approval of the minutes uh for um I don't have the date.

Mine's not up either.

Motion to approve the minutes made by uh Councilmember Goggin.

Is there a second?

Second by Commissioner Lee.

Any discussion or corrections?

Seeing none.

All in favor signify by saying aye or with a thumbs up.

All right, that motion passes.

Moving to our next agenda item 260306.

Introduction of TIFF applicant lot 11 in River Point District Developer Rike properties, and we have Julie Cummins and speak to this.

Um so we've been through this long and so far.

These guys have submitted uh an uh TIFF application for another lot at River Point District.

And since River Point District is a project managed by the RDA, we have Jason Gilman here just to give us a quick um overview of the RDA's perspective so we can work in sync with that body as well.

And then Lee will come up to share about this project.

Please state your name and municipality for the record.

Thank you.

Um I'm Jason Gilman, and I'm uh representing the redevelopment authority.

Um I'm the project manager that works on the public-private partnership side of things for River Point District.

And I just wanted to provide uh a brief overview uh relative to the importance of RIKE's involvement as one of our development partners.

Um lot 11 is actually part of uh River Point District parcels that uh are currently owned by the redevelopment authority.

Um but as we uh work with developers, we assign option agreements on those lots, and lot 11 is one of very few uh what we would refer to as waterfront parcels.

So you have the War Eagle, which is already built on the water, then you have a public piece of land, and then you have lot eleven, so that's the lot that we're talking about.

Um the proposal that RIKE uh came in with uh prompted by a uh a previous developer that had decided to release their option agreements, and that resulted in a request for expressions of interest that we sent out to uh my whole database of developers.

Uh RIKE responded, as did Cowboy Jack's restaurant.

Um, after uh reviewing uh those proposals, the redevelopment authority um awarded the option to RIKE development, mainly because they were proposing a project that was consistent with the planned development district, which is really to uh uh pre preferentially have uh residential above retail or commercial and then mixed use development and three stories maximum on the waterfront to preserve views and uh and uh and also to activate the waterfront.

The other piece that was really important to us is just that RIKE has shown the ability to professionally manage and start projects because they've got lot eight, uh the lofts that is actually currently being uh constructed and will be occupied later this spring.

That's the one that's being developed right in front of the drift lists.

If you're and then they they also have an option on uh lot nine, which is the Gateway Commons project right across from Three Rivers Plaza.

So they've shown uh that they are uh not only uh good financial managers and are able to get capital, but they can get projects off the ground, manage them very well and get and meet meet the schedule that they've committed to and so forth.

Um after consideration of their uh development, RIKE then approached Cowboy Jacks, knowing that they had space on lot 11 that could potentially accommodate a restaurant, and they've arrived at an agreement with Cowboy Jacks to be part of that uh project.

So that's uh those those discussions and negotiations are ongoing.

Uh they'll be uh probably uh evolving as the six-month option agreement plays out, so we'll know more as the project uh uh evolves and they'll provide regular updates to the RDA.

Um the R uh RIKE uh I also wanted to note that uh um they have asked that lot 11 be uh the priority over lot nine just in terms of timing, and there's a number of different reasons for that that uh perhaps Lee can touch on, but um that doesn't concern the RDA because they're making progress on all the development, and we understand that lot 11 is is perhaps a higher priority with the Cowboy Jacks piece and and a few other factors.

Uh one other side note that uh has always impressed me about Rike development.

Uh they're one of the few developers that we actually got testimonial letters from other mayors that they've worked in cities like El Tuna, Claire, uh, and even a planner in uh Sun Prairie sends us a testimonial.

They're also uh showing um that they are interested in uh progressive things like the renter equity program, they're exploring solar, which we had a meeting this morning with a company out of Paroqua on, and they're offering uh full health and wellness facilities and rooftop terraces among many other uh things on the uh in their development, which enhances that parkway development.

Uh so that's just sort of a brief overview of uh the way we look at Rike as a partner.

Thank you, Jason.

Uh any questions from commissioners.

All right, CNN.

Can you remind me your name again?

I know he just said it too, so I'm sorry.

Please hit the hit the button for the microphone.

There you go.

Can you hear me now?

Okay, I'm Lee Haremza with Raiky properties uh owner and operator, heavily involved.

Um you know a lot of you have kind of been through this speech before, but for anybody that hasn't met me before, I just kind of want to talk a little bit about who Raiky is, um, why we're kind of unique for the for the area.

Um Rike is uh, you know, we're very vertically integrated.

So we take the dirt and we develop the properties and then we hold the properties and manage them.

So we see it from raw dirt to construction.

We have the construction team and even the property management team.

So we see it through.

We're the ones that have to end up with the end user too, which is uh tenants or residents.

Um we've proven ourselves, like Jason mentioned, and in multiple municipalities and cities, uh worked through various different projects, land development, uh, you know, demos, just kind of everything.

Um, you know, we have uh uh you know, just kind of a track record and also with lacrosse in itself.

He kind of mentioned all the other projects that we have currently going right now.